Edited by Farnoosh Fathi

Poems by Ismar Tirelli Neto

Translated by Farnoosh Fathi

HE DOESN’T LIKE that poem of minethat goeslike so lying sidewaysyour body speaks a half-moonthese verses he likes but nags me on the followingloaf of flesh discovered between the blue jeansand a black shirtetc.he said that these (lines)that followdon’t quite pay the body that was lyinglike so on its sidethat when a body finallygoes about saying half-moons nothing more need be writtennothing else in the poembears equivalence to this that ismy poem wouldn’t needanything other than bodieswhich like so on their sidessay half-moonsmy poem is apparentlya cripplehe’s all overturesbut where it is necessarythat whatever must be said be saidhe gets this look of fear on his faceand says nothing at allwhy should I say thenthat while he speaksabout my poemhis body (not on its sidebut belly facing up)says a wine stain insisting on the old carpet and my eyes do not let goof the flesh-loaf discoveredbetween the red shirtand the pair of dark pants(not sure what fabric)?that they’ll understand me is sheer chancebut it’s not a casefor rushingafter allwhat is this about?John Ashbery said“the poem is sad because it wants to be yours, and cannot”and this textbook called poetry for studentsargues for a cynical readingof this line because Ashbery probablywas only trying to be funnywhen he wrote ita self-respecting poet should alwaysresist sentimentalityI try to take this into account(try)by calling the poem “Levity”which is to saythere is a reason the poemreads under the marqueeof Levitythat it (the marquee) is this (one) not any other(I’m trying to organize the world)words have acquired weightand densityin the last couple of yearsI didn’t quite grasp thisI didn’t quite grasp that one detailcapable of turning an arrangement of flowersin disarray(my poem must have been sad)but something changedyes something has changed& I want to tell the boy of a certain“alchemy in immanence”I won’t do it because (as stated elsewhere)words have acquired weightand densityin the last couple of years& I’m already quite waryof the fireworksin an alleged “alchemy in immanence”I have a great distrust ofthis “alchemy in immanence”that has just occurred to meit’s the kind of thingthat would make me feel tremendously ill at easeif I were to hear it from someone else’s mouthon the other hand the word “thing”for examplestrikes me nowadays asone of the most beautifulI don’t understand why people don’t enunciateit with more reverence(I could talk to the boy about some “thing”)that they’ll understand me is sheer chancebut it’s not a casefor rushingone does not write to the mountain to the aqueduct to a celestial bodythe body you are coming atis precisely the anti-celestial& it insists on the old carpetlike a wine stainit is there so muchthat it trumps all thismy eyes do not let goof the loaf of flesh discovered between his red shirtand black pair of pants(not sure what fabric)If I could I would graphon that gapmilk straitfrozen just aheadthat bodieslying down like so(one facing the other)traditionally say full moonsmost of the thingsthat we don’t understandare very very closealmost under the skin

down with the tyranny of functionwhat is it good for how go about it?things have much more being

when seen as sociological trifleand I am very sick of mewhat is it good for how go about it?

has anyone in this worldin this vast vast vast vast worldever died of a brutal hangover?

I would like a name address and numberbenefits dental plan christmasbonus a party thrown for Eunice in HRa smart son a rich husband and time, still, to be aggressively frivolouswhat is it good for how go about it?

how interesting!(all this without strayingfrom my voice’s comfort zone)

Editor/translator Farnoosh Fathi has curated this feature devoted to three contemporary Brazilian poets who illustrate the radical openness and idiosyncratic mixing that Fathi says characterizes their moment: Angélica Freitas, Leonardo Gandolfi, and Ismar Tirelli Neto “redefine the terms of the poetic and the political.”